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It's cheap, it's smart, and it can really get you a lot of publicity. Just three reasons why you need to get to grips with guerrilla marketing now…
First things first, exactly what is guerrilla marketing? The term now covers a plethora of different marketing techniques but a good definition would be "unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results for minimal resources." Now, doesn't that sound like a great approach for a cash strapped startup business?
In fact, some might say that a grasp of guerrilla marketing is essential for smaller companies and that these businesses are ideally placed to carry out these campaigns. A small or early stage company must take a guerrilla approach to marketing if it's to generate a profile for itself. No one is going to take notice of a small business that throws out the occasional press release. By taking a nimble approach it's possible to achieve results that sluggish corporate marketing organisations could only dream about.
Guerrilla marketing can take a campaign to the next level. It can break through the advertising clutter. The bottom line is we're being hit with TV, radio and paper ad campaigns 24/7. They've become so much a part of our lives that they're beginning to take the form of background noise and we no longer pay much attention to them. Increasingly marketing companies are having to resort to guerrilla tactics to grab our attention.
Crazy campaigns
Take the magazine FHM, who projected a 60-foot high image of Gail Porter's backside onto the Houses of Parliament to promote its 1999 poll to find the world's sexiest women. Then there was IBM who employed a graffiti artist to paint pavements and walls in San Francisco and Chicago with the words 'Peace, love and Linux'. The site About.com sent out fake hitchhikers onto Highway 101 in the States to give out promotional masks to any kind driver that stopped to pick them up. These campaigns all focus on creating a buzz around a product or service; it's then passed on by word of mouth as people talk about in pubs.
Identifying super consumers who can become brand advocates and spread the word about a product. If one person has a great brand experience they can influence five to seven other people.
Guerilla tactics
Here are just a few cheap guerrilla marketing techniques that could work for your business, but before you don the monkey suit I have a few words of caution. There has been a backlash against some guerrilla campaigns. For example, IBM's Linux campaign got Big Blue in big trouble with the local authorities. The bio-degradable chalk used to create the marketing messages on walls and pavements turned out not to be so bio-degradable. IBM was charged with violation of city ordinance and had to pay an $18,000 fine - and that wasn't good for PR or for IBM's image. Plan and consider all repercussions. There's always an element of risk in any guerrilla marketing campaign. Be aware of the risks and prepare counter responses. So, you have been warned.
Promote your site through online blogs and forums
Search through newsgroups to find any that are relevant to your business. But don't leap in there posting promotional messages willy-nilly, you'll get a right royal flaming. Get to know the newsgroup first, take part in chats, and gain the trust of the other members. But while you're doing that make sure you add a signature to the end of your postings that points people in the direction of your site. Links from other sites with a high page rank will push up the ranking on your own website.
Street theatre
To get publicity US gift registry site Della.com sent out 'wish fairies' that granted random acts of kindness to holiday shoppers, such as free rides on the subway, paying parking costs and carrying their shopping. It was a simple idea, but it brought in a huge amount of publicity for the company, and the resulting coverage on TV, radio and in print was valued at an amazing Ј3 million. Della.com aims to take the stress out of Christmas shopping for consumers and that's exactly what the 'wish fairies' were doing. If you can think of a scheme that matches your brand values, then simply find the out of work actors to hit the streets.
Paint your car
Get your URL plastered across your car and any other company motor vehicles you might own, at least your name will become known in your local area. Ill-fated Web currency company beenz went to the expense of getting a 1970 bullion truck with its URL emblazoned across it and then parked it in front of the offices of national newspapers and at key events, such as the annual Economist e-business conference.
Become a walking ad
Why not wear a t-shirt when you know your going to be seen in a club, bar or restaurant. And always carry branded pens with you so that you can leave them around after you have signed a credit card bill for example. This is a real cheap form of guerrilla marketing and if you really believe in your company, you should be proud to wear the T-shirt. Remember all those kids with the Nike 'tick' symbol shaved in to the back of their head? What great free advertising for Nike. People have even gone so far as painting marketing messages on to the heads of bald men. Perhaps it's time to look at ways that you could use your body to promote your brand, without getting arrested of course.
Fly Posters
Fly posting is illegal, so you will be pursuing this guerrilla marketing technique at your peril. However it can work well, especially if your site or service is aimed at a younger, funkier audience and it's increasingly becoming part of the marketing mix. Last year the advertising industry awarded one of the year's most prestigious awards to a fly posting campaign.
Promotional postcards
Increasingly we're seeing racks of postcards advertising various products and services in restaurants, clubs, hotels, bars and gyms. These cards are usually well designed, desirable items that people will pick up and keep or send to a bunch of their mates. Either way, if you can come up with a good design and a message that entertains as well as promotes your brand on a little 5x4 card, you could be onto a marketing winner.
Go a step further
To really push home that marketing message you could always employ somebody to hand out these postcards for you. Ammo Marketing hired a good looking woman to hand out what looked like business cards to young men in a bar, they thought they were getting her phone number, when in fact the card had details of Electronic Arts' new online game. It's a bit naughty, but it was targeted at the right audience (young males) and the response rate was an impressive 60 per cent.
Cunning Stunts
It was the agency Cunning Stunts that projected a naked Gail Porter onto the Houses of Parliament for FHM magazine. To celebrate the new DVD and video section on the Bol.com site it also produced the world's biggest tub of popcorn and sat it in the heart of cinema land, Leicester Square.
Use Web rings
Web rings link together sites with a similar subject matter and they can be a cheap and easy way to generate traffic. This can work especially well if your site focuses on a narrow, niche target market.
Make yourself known to magazine and newspaper journalists...
By being controversial and quotable, without getting yourself sued. Call up journalists with comments on relevant news stories and to offer pro-active comment whenever your competitors make an announcement. This doesn't necessarily need to be aggressive, but it should provide an alternative viewpoint. And any editorial coverage is even better than advertising in as people will read news stories without the preconceptions they have when suspiciously scanning an advert.
Dress up
When beenz (www.beenz.com) first launched it sent out a team (known as the beenz army) of willing volunteers dressed in inflatable versions of the beenz logo. These poor souls were used tactically at special events, such as the Internet World show, to build brand awareness. Although the beenz company and its online currency didn't go on to change the world, it did mean the firm attracted enough attention to be bought out by another company.
Take up argument and issues with the big boys
When Windows XP launched in a blaze of publicity in October 2001 it claimed to be an un-crack able operating system. Hackers around the world then proceeded to break into the system. At the time anti-cracking software company BitArts, it sent out a release pointing out what changes Microsoft needed to make to secure its operating system. The result was coverage across the Web and in national and international newspapers and magazines.
Write a column
Local papers are on a tight budget and it might just be that they're looking for a bit of cheap editorial. If you're a Web design wiz why not offer your services to the paper answering reader's questions about setting up a site, and then ensure you get your URL published.
Exploit a news story
You have to work fast to do this, and have one on the press at all times, but Easy Jet managed it when a news story came out revealing that Tony Blair and family were going to travel on a budget airline for their holidays. Easy Jet chairman Stelios moved quickly and produced some adverts which said "even Tony Blair got a bargain this summer." There was just one flaw in this plan, it turns out the Blair's were travelling on arch rivals Ryan air. But Stelios didn't hang his head in shame instead he covered up the offending adverts with the words, "Oops! Wrong cheapo airline. Oh, never mind, Tony. Perhaps next year?" Even though he'd jumped on the story a little too early, clever clogs Stelios still managed to get plenty of column inches promoting his airline. Twice.
Unusual competitions
You can pull in publicity by running an unusual competition on your Web site. Say you're MD of an online garden centre, why not run competitions to find the best garden in the UK and get people to send in photos, you can then publish on your site. Or maybe you sell underwear online, why not run competitions to find the most unpleasant pair of knickers in the country? If your compo is unusual or funny enough, it's more than likely to get you coverage in the press.
Real life product placement
You could place undercover guerrilla marketers in bars, clubs, restaurants and shops to talk up your businesses. It's all about creating a word of mouth buzz, create that kind of real communication about your brand which they will go and communicate to friends.
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